E-Book Publishing – iphone/ipad/e-book – some notes

Thought I’d share some notes on e-publishing, especially with all the excitement generated by ipad. I have two picture books coming out myself on iphone and am looking forward to having picture books on ipad!

Iphone

Pros

Most of the iphone publishers pay better [some much better] royalties than book publishers.

Though the RRP cost of books is low, volume of sales is high compared to hard copy books.

Folk buying an e-book for iphone often buy the hardcopy too if the child likes the book.

If you are publishing with an iphone company who works with the big publishers or with big children’s media companies, then it potentially brings your work to the attention of some important networks/people. It puts you book into good company!

Cons

Starts with costing you the author.

There is a setup fee or the set up cost is taken out of your royalties.

You have to make your own audio and ensure it is of ‘professional’ quality or pay to have the iphone publisher produce it for you. American iphone book producers like to use American accents [sorry Aussies].

If they format the text into the images for you that is a cost as well.

You have to submit the completed book upfront [not such a hassle for the author/illustrator] as a pdf. For author working with illustrator it means either you pay the illustrator upfront or they work with you with royalties in mind. If it is accepted you may find you have to then submit each frame [individual jpeg image] resized to iphone format . This can mean force sizing, which can distort the image slightly. If you do not do this yourself, there is a cost for them to do it.

Is all the buzz – is touted as new direction in children’s publishing [most recently at CAL seminar in Brisbane recently]. Not seen as replacing hard copy but as important new outlet.

Penguin are already there, are going for interactive stories on ipad. Exciting! [see UTube and http://www.engadget.com/…/penguins-ipad-formatted-books-shown-off-making- waves/ ] All the same pluses for iphone also apply here and more.

Con

Same companies doing iphone are now doing ipad as well so the cost structure may still apply – may change too as ipad is much more flexible than iphone and is beautifully suited to picbooks. Because of this, there may not [note may not] be the same need for audio.

Ripple Reader

Pro

If your book is already in hardcopy, it is ‘free’ [yep that’s right] to load your book onto Ripple Reader and free to join the company. Ripple Reader pays royalties! It is an exciting innovation that makes your published book accessible much, much more widely.

Con

Your book must exist in a published version first, so that the editing process it has gone through ensures production quality.

Recommended Reading

Latest SCBWI Newsletter [March/April 2010] page 22 – article by Elizabeth O. Dulemba titled, “My 1st iPhone Picture Book App”. Elizabeth was published with a company called Rhodesoft.com [“Reading Rhino”]. I don’t know as much about them, but they do also require a set up fee.

11 responses to “E-Book Publishing – iphone/ipad/e-book – some notes”

Thanks Jennifer. Greatly appreciate you compiling and sharing this list. I will be sure to share the link during our digital publishing #pblitchat. And huge congrats on all the exciting things you have rolling out. 🙂

Thank you Kat! 🙂 Hope it is helpful! Will try to link into your Picture Books Only Twitter Chat!
For the rest of you – Kat is talking to Kate Eltham of QWC on e-picture books on Monday 21st June at 11.30am Australia time.
Best Jennifer

It’s interactive, in that people can write back to the Series and have their questions answered (technical & otherwise) before the final eBook is released.

I should mention that IP is proud to be at the first Australian publisher (as far as I know!) approved as a content provider by Apple Inc for the iPad (& iPhone). More information on IP’s initiatives with Apple, Amazon etc: http://ipoz.biz/DPC/DPC.htm